Reauthorization of EB-5 Program Likely Bringing Restrictions

Congress created the Immigrant Investor Program, more commonly known as the EB-5 immigrant visa, in 1990. The program stimulates the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors. In exchange for investing capital in a job-creating business in the United States, the investors are allowed to enter the United States as immigrants (with green cards). To allow a broader range of investment opportunities, the Regional Center Pilot Program was enacted in 1992 and allowed foreign investors to invest through EB-5 regional centers, which are allowed to count jobs created directly in a job-creating business, as well as indirect jobs created by the economic activity spurred through their investment.

EB-5 investments through regional centers became very popular during the financial crisis of 2007-09, when many large development projects could not access traditional financing. The program was so successful that many thousands of investors have entered the program in recent years, mostly through the regional center program. Regional centers allow for the aggregations of tens of hundreds of investors to fund large projects, creating tens of thousands of jobs.